State & Ceremonial

Royal Family to honour the 200th anniversary of Waterloo at St Paul’s Service

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4th February 2015
Members of the Royal Family are expected to attend an anniversary service at St Paul’s Cathedral to honour the Battle of Waterloo later this year. The service, which is due to happen on 18th June, will commemorate 200 years to the day that the battle took place. The conflict saw the Duke of Wellington’s forces clash with the French army, commanded by Napoleon. The Royal Family will also…
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History

Henry VIII's gardening manual 'unearthed'

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29th January 2015
Buckingham Palace curators may have dug deep (pun intended) to find out Henry VIII may have had interest in gardening and referred to the world’s first gardening manual for inspiration. Front page of the gardening manual, c. 1490-5, showing inscription by Richard Rawson…
History

Notable Names: John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough

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26th January 2015
John Churchill circa 1685-1690. John Churchill was born at Ashe House in Devon on 26th May 1650. His father, Winston, became impoverished after supporting the Royalist cause during the English Civil Wars. Despite these humble beginnings, John Churchill would come to serve five monarchs during his lifetime and witness the beginnings of British global power. Since his father was on the losing side…
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History

Henry VIII's hat finds a home at Hampton Court Palace

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22nd January 2015
The year was 1544, and, after many gruelling months, the Frenchmen in the coastal town of Boulogne had surrendered to the English. When he heard news of the surrender, a victorious King Henry VIII triumphantly flung his hat into the air. Hat linked to Henry VIII acquired by…
History

Queen Victoria's court book to go on display at Osborne House

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17th January 2015
A journal filled with gossip and some handwritten notes from Queen Victoria’s court are set to go on display at Osborne House after being bought for nearly £4,000 on Monday. Osborne House – Queen Victoria’s residence on the Isle of Wight The ‘court gossip’ book is really the journal of Lt Gen Somerset Calthorpe, a British politician and soldier who served in the Crimean War. Between…
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History

Prince Charles: Waiting... the long and the short

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14th January 2015
Prince Charles was born to fulfill a specific purpose – to one day be King. 66 years later, he is still waiting. Some princes wait longer than others to fulfill their destiny. Henry VI became King of England in 1422 at the age of only nine months, following his father Henry V’s sudden death in France at the age of 36. Incidentally, King Charles VI of France, Henry VI’s maternal grandfather…
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